Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed an audience at Sarasota’s New College of Florida on Saturday in a speech that touted the state’s educational achievements and reforms and criticized the “woke” stranglehold on academia.
“In the last five and a half years, there has been no state that has done more to reform and improve education… We took on school choice. We made sure schools were open during COVID, we fought school unions , all of that. So it was really, really good.”
New College of Florida, the state’s liberal arts honors college, has been the site of a contentious power struggle between the previous school administration and the governor, which has seen DeSantis seek to remake the institution in the image of Michigan’s Hillsdale College.
In January 2023, DeSantis appointed a new slate of six board members, including outspoken and DEI activist and critical race theory critic Christopher Rufo.
RON DESANTIS REMOVES THE LIBERAL UNIVERSITY AND APPOINTS SIX MEMBERS TO THE NEW COLLEGE OF FLORIDA
Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a Never Back Down campaign event in Keene, NH, on November 21, 2023. (Reuters/Sophie Park/File photo)
DeSantis praised the school’s renovation, arguing that “it was a lot about ideology. You know, no accountability, no grades, none of that other stuff… This is a public institution. And not only do we have a right, we have an obligation “. to ensure that our public institutions serve the best interests of the state of Florida.”
The governor aimed his fire at the use of public resources for what he interprets as ideological indoctrination.
“If you want to be in some Marxist commune, if that’s what you want to do with your life, who am I to say? But I don’t want Florida taxpayers to fund that. So, we made some big changes. … What’s better for the state of Florida. And I think what you’ve seen, I don’t think you’ve seen a more dramatic improvement at any other institution.”
DeSantis argued that the school’s new vision is similar to the educational philosophy of the country’s great writers and thinkers at the dawn of American democracy.
“The mission is that we want a liberal arts education that is rooted in the Western tradition, a classical education similar to what our Founding Fathers had when they went to universities. That is something that I think will attract people not only throughout Florida, but across the country.
“I think there are a lot of parents, especially with what you see happening on some of these other college campuses… Now, the madness on college campuses is not new, but… since then [the Hamas attack on Israel on] October 7th,” people see “how crazy this has gotten.”
FLORIDA COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION SAYS STATES NEED TO BE MORE ‘AGGRESSIVE’ ON POLICIES, GET BACK TO THE BASICS
Governors Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis (Getty Images)
Referencing nationwide campus protests over the war in Gaza, DeSantis compared Florida’s public education system to the perceived permissiveness of the Ivy League and vowed to deal with the disruptions with a firm hand.
“Letting inmates run the asylum doesn’t work. So, you’ve seen a sickness in these universities… I’ve talked to people who are very, very high up in finances and all that other stuff. But [with respect to education] you are better off in Florida than at Columbia or Harvard. … Now they’re saying that, people.”
DeSantis has been a prominent critic of left-wing bias on college campuses and has frequently clashed with the state’s educational establishment.
“What you’re seeing in academia is what happens when left-wing ideology infects an institution. It corrupts it… You know, the problem is the left infects corporate America,” DeSantis said. “It becomes corrupted when it infects academia. It becomes corrupted when it infects medicine.” [establishment]. …When it affects the corporate media, it corrupts.
“Now we have the BLM riots (remember a few years ago?) and you have a CNN reporter standing in front of burning buildings saying it’s a mostly peaceful protest. So the facts are totally off the mark. It’s ideology.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to the media after an event on July 27, 2023 in Chariton, Iowa. (Sergio Flores for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The governor then pivoted to the state’s pandemic policies, punishing the country’s medical establishment for corruption and pursuing a political rather than scientific agenda.
“[During the pandemic], ideology had overtaken evidence-based science. … There was an agenda and they were playing on a team. And you saw the corruption in that. You saw… the mutilation of minors. That is not consistent with the Hippocratic oath to do no harm, cutting off the private parts of someone who is 14 years old. …And not many Western countries have allowed themselves this. “Only here do you see this… corruption of the medical establishment.”
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Finally, the governor credited Florida’s COVID policies for sparking a massive influx of people and investment into the state, as blue state residents were tired of bigger government, shutdowns and higher taxes. .
“Of course, we went against the consensus on COVID. And, you know, Florida, when COVID started, we were doing well as a state. Most people would rather live in Florida than with the governments of California, New York, Illinois and then , sure. But the contrast with the way we handled COVID in front of them is that it caused a massive infusion of people, investments and businesses, unlike anything really any state has seen.”
